Now vs. Then

I’m a bad, bad, bad mother. That’s how I ended my blog yesterday. And yet, this morning, driving the kids to school I realized just how true that had become. See when eldest was born I was determined to do everything “right”. I would nurse, and give him mother’s milk because that is best. What else are boobies for? I would make sure he had only pure, healthy foods so he could grow big and strong. I would ensure his diapers were pure cotton with no scary additives to keep his tender skin dry.

As a result, I ate very healthy so he would nurse very healthy. I washed and line-dried his diapers, my mother ironed them so that they weren’t wrinkly on his tushy. I even made his baby food so he wouldn’t have to eat the additives in the Gerber baby food jar. Um, in fact, his very first foods I, um, prechewed, before wising up just a little and getting a baby food grinder. A hand-cranked baby food grinder at that.

The poor kid wore pink, had moccasins as his first shoes and had only gender-neutral toys. Dolls being gender-neutral, of course. TV was taboo. It wasn’t till he was about 2 ½ that he finally started watching TV, just a half hour of course. On public TV. Thomas being the show of choice (this was actually a blessing because even now, at 15, eldest and siblings still play with all the Thomas happy-crappy). Even with closely monitored TV the kid started turning everything into guns and cars. Lego’s, while being my favorite toy ever, very handily transform into any gun or car imaginable.

Today, along with the Thomas , we still have lego’s and TV. Unfortunately the TV is now home to Spongebob, Ed, Edd & Eddy and Anime drama 24/7. The only kid to wear pink is daughter and I have the only pair of moccasins left (used to match eldests… way back when). Nobody is in diapers, but if they were they would be store-brand loaded with chemical gel to keep their tender little skin from ever feeling wet. Thereby extending potty training, and diaper-wearing, another year or two. The worst? Daughter and squareboy had pop-tarts in the car on the way to school this morning.

Not prechewed.